ADAMS (DM-27) was named in honor of Samuel Adams, born at Northampton,
Mass., on 10 April 1912. Appointed to the Naval Academy from
Massachusetts' 2d Congressional District in 1931, Adams graduated in
1935. Following sea duty in the battleships WEST VIRGINIA (BB-48) (28
June to 19 July 1935), and TENNESSEE (BB-43) (19 July 1935 to 2 January
1938), Adams underwent flight instruction at the Naval Air Station.
Pensacola, Fla., and was designated a naval aviator on 17 January 1939.
Promoted to lieutenant (j.g. ) soon thereafter, he served a brief tour
of duty in the SARATOGA (CV-3) air group from 12 April to 12 May 1939,
before he was assigned to Bombing Squadron (VB) 5, attached to the
aircraft carrer YORKTOWN (CV-5) on 13 May 1939.
YORKTOWN, to which VB-5 was attached, operated with the Pacific Fleet
until the spring of 1941, when she was transferred to the Atlantic.
Early in this period, VB-5 operated off RANGER (CV-4) as VB-5 and other
YORKTOWN squadrons exchanged with units from that carrier, carried out
neutrality patrols in the North Atlantic. Adams remained with the
squadron through its transition at Norfolk from the Northrop BT-1 to the
famous Douglas SBD "Dauntless," and flew patrols from Yorktown when that
carrier covered convoys in the North Atlantic in the fall of 1941.
Soon after Pearl Harbor, Yorktown returned to the Pacific, and took part
in the raids on Japanese advanced bases in the Marshalls and Gilberts.
Adams, by that point one of the more senior pilots in the group, led a
section of SBDs from VB 5 in raids on Japanese shipping and
installations at Jaluit on 1 February 1942. A little over a month later,
he again led a section, in the combined YORKTOWN-LEXINGTON (CV-2) air
group strike on Japanese shipping off Lae and Salamaua, New Guinea, on
10 March 1942. He also led sections in the raids on Tulagi (4 May 1942)
and in the Battle of the Coral Sea (7 and 8 May 1942). For his
performance in those engagements in the first six months of the war, he
received two Navy Crosses.
Although VB-5 had performed arduous duty in the early wartime period,
the circumstances prevailing shortly before the Battle of Midway meant
that there would be no rest for it. Temporarily redesignated as
"Scouting" Squadron 5, VB-5 returned to the fray in YORKTOWN, which had
been hastily repaired after being damaged in the Coral Sea.
During the action at Midway on 4 June 1942, dive bombers from YORKTOWN
and ENTERPRISE mortally damaged three of the Japanese striking force's
four carriers. Adams and his wingman, Lt. Harlan R. Dickson, were among
the VB-5 pilots assigned a search sector in the effort to locate HIRYU,
the one carrier left undamaged.
They found their quarry, and though Adams and Dickson were attacked by a
"Zero" fighter, Adams radioed a precise contact report which enabled a
striking group of planes from ENTERPRISE (CV-6)including those from
Yorktown's orphaned VB-3 to locate HIRYU and score hits that knocked her
out of the battle and led to her ultimate abandonment.
The next afternoon, while flying a search mission from ENTERPRISE, Adams
spotted the Japanese destroyer TANIKAZE. As he began his dive, he urged
his wingmen to take their time in order to make accurate attacks. His
SBD dove into the cloud cover. and was never seen again. Adams and his
radioman, Aviation Radioman 1st Class Joseph J. Karrol, fell to the
destroyer's antiaircraft fire.
For his significant role in the Battle of Midway, Adams was posthumously
awarded a third Navy Cross.